This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Many modern automotive vehicles, such as crossover vehicles, are available with an all-wheel drive (AWD) drivetrain that is based on a front-wheel drive (FWD) architecture. This optional drivetrain arrangement permits drive torque to be selectively and/or automatically transferred from the powertrain to both the primary (i.e., front) driveline and the secondary (i.e., rear) driveline to provide better traction. Such AWD vehicles are typically equipped with a much more complex drivetrain (relative to a FWD architecture) which, in addition to the primary driveline, must include the additional components associated with the secondary driveline such as a power take-off unit and a propshaft.
The primary driveline typically includes a differential unit to provide differential torque to a pair of primary drive wheels (i.e., left and right front wheels). In certain conditions, such as towing the vehicle with the front and rear wheels on the ground (i.e. flat towing), the primary drive wheels can back drive the transmission and powertrain. To this end, there remains a need in the art for development of improved driveline components for use in the disconnectable drivelines of AWD vehicles.